


Stars

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Trigun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-03-22
Updated: 2004-03-22
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:37:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1627058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He watches the stars. Do the stars watch him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Vensre

 

 

"Stars"

These are not the stars they knew.

Vash laid on his back staring up at the sky. Wolfwood snored on.

The sky of Earth would have looked quite different. One sun, one moon, and a different set of stars--or, at least, some of the same stars from different angles.

Vash did not twitch as the sand crab crawled across his hand. Wolfwood shifted closer in his sleep, kicking him in the shins.

Rem loved the stars. _"The stars are the eyes of our ancestors, watching us, guiding us along in life."_

"That's silly, Rem. Stars are just suns around which planets orbit."

"And each sun holds the possibility of all those planets, Knives, yes. They're all those things."

Wolfwood was now snoring directly into his ear. Vash could feel a drool drip down his neck. Hardly romantic, but he tightened his arm around his partner.

Rem had told him about the skies of earth. About the north star and the dog star. Cassiopeia and Orion's Belt. Which of those stars were in this sky? Was Conner's Scythe part of Andromeda, if you were looking at it on Earth?

Vash let out an involuntary "Ooof!" as Nick's elbow made sudden and hard contact with his stomach. The man was so graceful and accurate when he was awake and shooting at people, but sleeping with him was sometimes like wrestling an October press gang.

Those stars had been his only companion on many nights. Those years as he waited for Knives to return after the crash, the nights after being run out of one town or another. When he had been too afraid of what Knives might do to get to him, who he might hurt because they had gotten close to Vash. When Vash was afraid of what he, himself, was capable of.

"You think too loud, needle-noggin," Wolfwood complained into his ear.

"Sorry," Vash said. "I was just looking at the stars."

"No you weren't, you were brooding."

"I..." Hard to deny. Plus Nick tended to get physical--and not in a pleasant way--when he was contradicted. "I was just wondering what Rem would think about these stars."

Nick sighed. He tended to sigh very extravagantly, sucking in air and whatever else happened to be nearby before exhaling. "They're just stars, Vash. There's no great cosmic plan written in them. And could you possibly dress a little more normal, your buckles are digging into me."

"You're the one lying on them. And me. Have you gained weight?"

"Hey!"

"Besides, there's nothing wrong with my clothes. I'll have you know Vash the Stampede is known far and wide for his sartorial splendor."

"I thought you were known far and wide for your ability to snarf donuts."

"That, too, but with style."

Woldwood snorted in a decidedly impious way and settled back down on top of Vash. But instead of snuggling back into his neck, he propped his head up on his hands and looked down at Vash. And Vash went back to looking at the stars.

"I just wonder sometimes... Is Rem up there watching me?"

"They're just stars, Vash. Gas giants millions of isles away."

"Sometimes, I look up at the stars and think they're her eyes, watching me."

Nick finally looked up himself, staring at the sky for a long moment, before turning back to Vash. "That's really...creepy," Nick finally said.

Vash decided it wasn't worth arguing about. Nick would sigh again soon and go back to sleep and leave him alone with Rem.

"She'd be proud of you, you know." This startled Vash far more than the elbow to his midsection had. Serious comments from Wolfwood tended to come out like sandstorms: Sudden, unexpected, and sometimes devastating. His compliments could sometimes be the worst.

"You're a good man," Nick continued, just as serious.

"No, I--" Vash began only to be cut off.

"You help people," Nick said. "You're kind. And you try to do right--too damn hard much of the time. And are generally much better at it than the rest of us," he added with a twist to his lips. "You are a good man. Even if you are a needle noggin."

"This had the desired effect of bringing Vash, at least partly, out of his mood. "Way to ruin the moment, preacher," he said sarcastically.

Wolfwood laughed and spread his body even more firmly onto Vash's. And started to run against him. "Now come on, good man," he purred into his ear before licking it, "let me lead you into temptation."

Vash smiled at his partner as the man started to kiss him. "Is this happiness, Rem?" he thought as he continued to stare up at the sky over the other man's shoulder. "Close your eyes," he said to the stars before he took Nick's mouth and followed his own advise.

The End

 


End file.
